The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea paniculata and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘RENHY’. ‘RENHY’ represents a new deciduous shrub grown for landscape use.
The new Hydrangea resulted from a controlled breeding program that commenced in 1987 in Gorron, France with the objective of obtaining a selection of Hydrangea paniculata that blooms early in the season with red, sterile flowers. The inventors started the breeding program by self-pollinating Hydrangea paniculata ‘Unique’ (not patented) and the parents of ‘RENHY’ were unnamed proprietary seedlings that arose after seven series of subsequent crosses. ‘RENHY’ was selected as a single unique plant amongst the progeny in Gorron, France in 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by softwood cuttings in May of 2003 by the inventors in Gorron, France. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.